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Contents [hide] Intro Hi there and welcome to the 401 Druid Sticky Brief class history and descriptions. Generic druid of any spec stuff. Generic leveling info for the 4.0.1 people who aren't yet 80. II. Balance a. New stuff b. Raid build c. Stat values d. Rotation e. Some PvP stuff III. Feral a. New stuff b. Raid build c. Stat values d. Rotation e. Some PvP stuff IV. Resto a. New stuff b. Raid build c. Stat values c-2. Glyphs d. Rotation e. Some PvP stuff V. Summary VI. Appendix Alla Posters who contributed Web Sources Shout outs VII. Extra Page

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Intro

Hi there and welcome to the 401 Druid Sticky

Normally a sticky like this is for everyone and I would welcome you into the world of druid. Then proceed to tell you just about everything you need to know. But since this is that magical in between time of xpacs I think we will assume you are level 80 and raiding in ICC.

Brief class history and descriptions.

Well the history of Wrath was a good one for us. Boomkin was competitive to a large degree all xpac. Resto was as good as always and Revitalize made them required for 25 mans. Feral also was strong. Cats were subject to a new and complex system of priorities that scaled insanely well with both gear and skill. Bears became powerful main tanks, no more being relegated to an off tank role.

This is now all up in the air and hopefully this thread will help make sense of all of the changes.

Generic druid of any spec stuff.

Might have to broken up a bit more, not sure yet as am lazy and not checking 'facts' yet

Forms, healing, damage, tanking, things we can all do

Might have new spells and tricks, they go here. Old stuff that was class specific and now isnt also goes here

Reforging basics

Generic leveling info for the 4.0.1 people who aren't yet 80.

Be feral

?

Profit

II. Balance

a. New stuff

Eclipse

b. Raid build

c. Stat values

Haste vs Crit? Sp is gone Int is good Spirit is ok

d. Rotation

Starsurge, DoTs and nukes

e. Some PvP stuff

III. Feral

a. New stuff

SR goes to nerf city, use the name Nom Nom Nom as the new name sucks, Thrash n Pulv fer bears

b. Raid build

Combo build, cost of changing glyphs, specialized specs - how useful and what are they?

Why PM is bad

c. Stat values

Haste is sexier than most everything at 80, Red will be Agi Yellow Agi/Haste and Blue Agi/Hit or Haste/Hit // crit still beats haste, mastery may be the go to as bleeds are the magority of damage, the damage sucks bad though

OMG REFORGING ITS SO AWESOME

Forge to exp and hit cap, do we change meta gems? unlikely but blue as hit means maybe really unlikely as we will be pushing the crit cap. Since we can get blue bonuses we will and reforge hit off of gear if needed to a berrer stat in this order Exp->Haste->Crit, with exp being done only to the cap.

GEM BEFORE YOU REFORGE GEAR, NEVER FORGET THIS

When you think you are done make sure you aint crit capped, if so turn crit into haste until problem goes away.

//some of the reforging stuff needs to go in general druid stuff, mainly the gem first reforge after part as reforging is more versatile in many cases

Hit/Expertise: Hit and Expertise are also less valuable because we aren't GCD-capped and we're only out 20% of the energy cost on a missed special. It's a little difficult to explain, but if, for instance, a mage misses a 3 sec cast on a 5 min fight, that's damage lost; instead of 100 spells hitting the target for x damage, it's 99. His limiting factor primarily is time. Ours is Energy. Over 5 minutes, we have 100 (starting energy) + 10x300 (rough estimate of energy/second x duration in seconds) + 9x60 (Tiger's Fury), or about 3640 Energy. We have 300 GCDs to use our Energy, but only need 91 GCDs to use it all (assuming an average cost of 40 energy per ability). It would take 5 missed/dodged specials before we lost 1 use over a fight.

d. Rotation

GL trying to raid as DPS, we done got nerfed :( // still waiting for this to change, if it doesn;t will drop DPS from the 4.0.1.thread until it is a raid viable DPS spec

Mangle debuff->SR->Rake->Shred->Rip keep it all going

Nom nom nom, FB as an execute

Lacerate is front loaded, Pulv is semi useful, Berserk procs are sexy, OoC is for Maul, Swipe has a CD :(, Mangle is still Mangle

Bear does more DPS than cat LOL :(

e. Some PvP stuff

Unlikely to have much dataz

IV. Resto

a. New stuff

LOL tree of life more like TREE OF COOLDOWN //OMG NAO DURID R LIEK NO BARK ALL BITE LOL <- win (NEEDS MOAR CAPS THO) fixed!

Tree of life is a soft-enrage effect like a Warlock's Metamorphosis. It powers up your spells and has a 3 minute cooldown. So you are stuck in cow form now; deal with it. Oh and btw, MOOOOOOOO!!! :p

Mana is an issue now. Expect to OOM if you blindly HoT everyone the the whole fight on tougher content. Pre-HoTing is less effective now as well, so don't do it so much.

HoTs now benefit from haste and critical. Haste makes faster ticks, and adds more ticks once you get enough. I shouldn't have to tell you what critical does.

Lifebloom is limited to one target at a time, doesn't return mana when it blooms, and can have it's duration refreshed by Nourish with the proper talent placement. It's best used on the tank.

Regrowth is all changed. The HoT only lasts 6 seconds, and it has a short cast time. It's now an expensive flash heal.

Nourish has a longer cast time and is now the 'medium' heal.

Rebirth has a 30 minute cooldown shared amongst all the druids in the raid, so you'll want to use it wisely.

Remove Corruption now removes curse and poison, plus bad magic if talented.

More I missed...

b. Raid build

85 PvE build - 8/2/31

Reasonable places to take points from:

Nature's Cure: Ask your raid group, magic dispelling may be covered by others.

Nature's Swiftness: Healing Touch is a smaller % maximum health then it used to be; so its life-saving ability has effectively been nerfed.

Furor: If you are comfortable with your mana feel free to move these points elsewhere.

Other nice places for those points:

Nature's Bounty: Putting 3 points here will turn Regrowth from an ineffective heal, to a reasonable flash heal. It will be expensive, but will have good synergy with Living Seed.

Genesis: Extra healing from the spells you'll use most.

Other talents can be useful, it depends on what you do and your play style.

For those who'd like more information on the talents read below.

A – Must have

B – Good talent

C – Situational

D – Minor use

Tier 1 // probably wont put detailed talent break down in 401 sticky, will keep though for the 403 version as we will need that stuff then.

Blessing of the Grove: C - 4% additional healing to Rejuvenation is weak compared to Genesis, which buffs all HoTs; or Master Shapeshifter, which buffs all healing.

Natural Shapeshifter: B - The biggest benefit is the extra 10 seconds in ToL form. It also reduces the mana cost of going into Tree of Life by a small amount and leads to Master Shapeshifter.

Naturalist: B - You'll use both Healing Touch and Nourish a lot. These are 2 points well spent.

Heart of the Wild: A – 6% extra intellect means more mana and more spellpower. Get it.

Tier 2

Perseverance: D – May end up being useful for some aura fights or PvP. No real benefit in most PvE encounters. As it leads to nothing interesting you can skip it.

Master Shapeshifter: B – 4% extra healing is a solid boost.

Improved Rejuvenation: A – 15% more healing to Rejuvenation? Yes, please.

Tier 3

Living Seed: B to C If you take the points in Nature's Bounty, this will have great synergy, and becomes a must have. If not it's still a good choice of talents and leads to Efflorescence, which is a reasonable talent.

Revitalize: A – The first point here is worth a lot, as it grants Replenishment. The 2nd point is a little less important, but still grants a large about of mana regen. You'll always want at least 1 point here.

Nature's Swiftness: C – If you end up using Swiftmend frequently (to take advantage of Efflorescence) this will likely be your only emergency button, and you should take it. If you save Swiftmend for emergencies then you can skip this talent without losing much.

Fury of Stormrage: D – Offers nothing to increase your healing or mana.

Tier 4

Nature's Bounty: C – Regrowth is almost useless without points here. However with 3 points here Regrowth becomes a fairly decent flash heal, assuming you have the mana pool to use it.

Empowered Touch: A – It increases healing done by your main spot healing spells, and allows you to keep Lifebloom rolling without wasting mana refreshing it. Given that your t11 set bonuses work off of Lifebloom as well, this talent is almost a given.

Malfurion's Gift: B – Reasonable mana regen talent that becomes very sexy when you are in ToL form, and can cast Lifebloom on multiple targets.

Tier 5

Efflorescence: B to C – A decent AoE heal spawned underneath the swiftmend target. If people are stacking due to a specific fight mechanic, it can be pretty powerful. However if everyone is spread out, then its not worth the 3 points.

Wild Growth: A – Your group healing HoT. It's an awesome spell and you need it to get Tree of Life, which itself is awesome. Get it or watch your friends die in a fire.

Nature's Cure: C – Situational. If your raid group is full of other people who can dispel magic, then it isn't so important. Also, if there is nothing you need to dispel in an encounter, the points are pretty worthless. Ask your raid what they want you to do here.

Nature's Ward: C – If you are one of those healers who frequently forget to heal themselves, then this can be worth the points. If you are PvPing it can be valuable. If neither of those apply to you, you'll probably skip this.

Tier 6

Gift of the Earthmother: B to C – Increases the healing of Lifebloom and adds an instant tick to Rejuvenation. It's a good place to put extra points, and a good place to take points from to put elsewhere. Both spells will see a good amount of use, but there are other talents that can be more pressing.

Swift Rejuvenation: C – We will be doing less rejuvenation spam in Cataclysm, so this talent will be less useful. However a 1.0 GCD with the instant ticks from GotEM will allow you to get some healing on a number of targets in a hurry.

Tier 7

Tree of Life: A – Just do it, you know you want to.

Other Trees

Feral Tier 1, Furor: C – Good use of talent points if you need more mana. If you are comfortable with your mana skip it.

Balance Tier 1, Nature's Majesty: C – 4% more critical is a good use of talent points, You'll want this to reach the second balance tier where the good talents are.

Balance Tier 1, Nature's Grace: B – This may be your only reason to cast Regrowth if you don't take the points in Nature's Bounty. Again points are needed to reach the 2nd tier, so you might as well take it.

Balance Tier 2, Genesis: B – 6% buff to swiftmend and HoTs makes this a very attractive talent. However you'll probably be wanting the points in Moonglow first.

Balance Tier 2, Moonglow: A – 9% lower mana cost to everything is good, very good.

c. Stat values

Int > Spi > Haste > Crit

Right now Intellect is your best throughput stat, and your best mana stat. You'll want as much of it as possible. Spirit is reasonable for increasing your mana regeneration. Haste will lower the GCD of all your spells, and add additional ticks to your HoTs. Critical is a rather weak throughput stat. Mastery depends on what percentage of your spells benefit from it. It'll be better than critical if about 30% of your spells benefit from it.

Reforging

You can reforge other stats to spirit if you need more mana. Reforge to haste if you need more throughput, or if doing so will add an extra tick to a HoT.

Haste needed for Extra HoT ticks

Numbers assume raid buffs. The first Lifebloom tick comes free with the +5% haste raid buff.

Haste # / Haste % /Spell

- / 0% / Lifebloom

256 / 2% / Wildgrowth

915 / 7.15% / Rejuvenation

1,220 / 9.53% / Lifebloom

1,423 / 11.05% / Regrowth

2,004 / 15.62% / Wild Growth

2,440 / 19.05% / Lifebloom

3,659 / 28.58% / Lifebloom

3,746 / 29.24% / Wild Growth

3,964 / 30.95% / Rejuvenation

Gemming

For end-game action your Meta should be the Ember Shadowspirit Diamond. All other sockets should be Brilliant Inferno Ruby unless you can pick up a socket bonus of 20 intellect or more with Purified Demonseye or Reckless Ember Topaz. Use 2 Reckless Ember Topaz to meet the Meta requirement.

c-2. Glyphs

Prime glyphs

Glyph of Lifebloom – Increases the Critical chance of Lifebloom by 10%

Glyph of Regrowth – Refreshes the duration of the Regrowth HoT on targets with less than 25% health.

Glyph of Rejuvenation - Increases the healing done by Rejuvenation by 10%

Glyph of Swiftmend – Your swiftmend spell no longer consumes the HoT when cast.

Use Lifebloom, Rejuvination, and Swiftmend. The Regrowth glyph is rather weak.

Major Glyphs

Glyph of Healing Touch- Reduces the remaining cooldown on Nature's Swiftness by 10 seconds each time Healing Touch is cast.

Glyph of Innervate - When Innervate is cast on a friendly target the caster will receive 50% of the Spell's effect.

Glyph of Rebirth - Players resurrected with Rebirth come back with 100% health.

Glyph of Wild Growth - Your Wild Growth spell hits a 6th target.

Wild Growth, Innervate and Rebirth should be your choices. Healing Touch is weak. If you are looking outside the normal healing glyphs both Thorns and Entangling Roots may have some situational usefulness.

Minor Glyphs

Glyph of Unburdened Rebirth - Your Rebirth spell no longer requires a reagent.

Glyph of Mark of the Wild - Your mark of the wild has it's mana cost reduced by 50%

Glyph of the Treant - Your Tree of Life Form now resembles a Treant.

There's not a lot of good minor gylphs from a numbers point of view, meaning the Treant Gylph is the only "must have" in the bunch.

d. Rotation

Heal shit until boss dead, get loot? //says the bear...

Basic Healing Strategy at 85

Put 3 stacks of Lifebloom on the tank, keep it rolling with Nourish.

Put Rejuvenation on anyone taking damage, but who isn't critical. Don't spam it blindly, watch your mana, over-healing is bad.

Nourish and Healing Touch are the direct heals. Healing Touch is more for tanks, try not to Nourish people without a HoT.

If you put talent points in Nature's Bounty, Regrowth is a reasonable emergency heal, it's also a good lead in for a Nourish if Rejuvenation isn't present.

Use group heals when several targets need healing. Wild Growth has a wide radius, Swiftmend + Efflorescence can be very mana efficient, and Tranquility is an emergency button.

Swiftmend and Nature's Swiftness + Nourish/Healing Touch are good single target emergency buttons.

Some Bonus Tips

1) Don't blindly spam stuff. The era is free mana is over.

2) Swiftmend + Efflorescence is efficient anytime you have a stack of characters. You'll want to consider using it on cooldown in those situations. However the animation can look a lot like green goo, so you may need to communicate or perhaps macro a reassuring message when casting it if you see people jumping out of it.

3) If you talented Malfurion's Gift, you can spam Lifebloom soon after going into Tree of Life form, and then have many OOC procs.

4) When talented with +60% critical Regrowth is still going to heal for less than you expect (i.e. not critical) about 20% of the time, be aware of this when casting it on someone with low health.

Detail on Healing Spells

Rejuvenation: Your basic HoT spell. It heals every 3 seconds for a small amount, with a duration of 12 seconds. The glyph of Rejuvenation increases healing done by 10%. Talent points in Improved Rejuvenation or Blessing of the Grove will also increase healing done. Gift of the Earthmother adds an tick the instant the spell is cast, and Swift Rejuvenation reduces the GCD by up to 0.5 seconds.

Regrowth: A weaker healing spell with a short cast time. It also adds a HoT that ticks every 2 seconds for 6 seconds. When glyphed the duration of Regrowth will be automatically refreshed on targets under 25% health. Talent points in Nature's Bounty will increase the critical healing rate by up to an additional 60%.

Lifebloom: Another HoT that heals the target every second for 10 seconds and stacks up to 3 times. When the HoT expires or is dispelled it will heal the target for an amount based on the number of stacks present. Lifebloom can only be present on one target at a time unless you are in Tree of Life form. The glyph of Lifebloom increases the critical rate by 10%. Gift of the Earthmother will increase the healing done when the HoT expires, and Malfurion's Gift will increase the chance of OOC procing from the HoT ticks.

Wild Growth: Group HoT spell. A smart heal obtained through talent points, it chooses the 5 most heavily injured targets within range and applies a HoT to them. The HoT ticks every second for 7 seconds and has a 10 second cooldown. The amount healed is higher at first and drops off as the spell reaches its full duration. The glyph of Wild Growth will cause the spell to heal an additional target.

Swiftmend: An instant cast spell, it consumes a Rejuvenation or Regrowth on the target and heals them for a moderate amount. If you have talent points in Efflorescence it will spawn a ‘carpet of healing flora' under the target that will apply an additional HoT to all friendly targets that stand in it.

Healing Touch: A Druid's big healing spell, with a long cast time. Can have its cast time reduced from talent points in Naturalist, and will reduce the cooldown on Nature's Swiftness by 5 seconds each time it is cast when glyphed.

Nourish: The medium sized heal. It costs less mana then Healing Touch, but is less powerful. The spell is boosted by 20% when cast on a target with a HoT already on it. With talent points in Empowered Touch it renews the duration of Lifebloom when cast on the same target, and points in Naturalist will reduce the cast time.

Tranquility: Channeled spell, 8 minute cooldown. It has an initial heal, plus a HoT that will continue to stack and grow more powerful as the spell is channeled. The spell is now a ‘smart heal' much like wild growth, and will choose the 5 lowest health party/raid members in range to heal.

Remove Corruption: Removes a poison and curse effect from a friendly target if any are present. Talent points in Nature's Cure will cause the spell to also remove a magic effect.

Nature's Swiftness: A spell obtained through talent points. It has a cooldown of 3 minutes and causes your next nature spell to be instant cast. Best macro'd to Healing Touch for an emergency heal, or Rebirth for a quick battle rez.

Revive: Your resurrection spell. Revives a dead target with 35% of their maximum health and mana. It can only be cast out of combat, and has a 10 second cast time.

Rebirth: A resurrection spell that can be cast in-combat. Revives the dead target with 20% of their health and mana, the Glyph of Rebirth will return the target with 100% of their health, and the Glyph of Unburdened Rebirth removes the reagent requirements. The spell has a 10 minute cooldown that is shared amongst all the druids in the party or raid.

Tree of Life: Shapeshifts you into Tree of Life form, increasing your armor and healing done for 30 seconds. It has a 3 minute cooldown, and also enhances a number of healing spells.

Lifebloom: Can be cast on multiple targets.

Wild Growth: Applies the HoT to 2 additional targets.

Regrowth: Becomes an instant cast spell.

Entangling Roots: Is now instant cast, and damage is increased by 200%.

Wrath: Cast time is decreased by 50% and Damage done is increased by 30%.

e. Some PvP stuff

Resto Stuff

Base Spec: 0/0/34

Keep thorns up as much as possible.

Take Fury of Stormrage and Starlight Wrath if you want to be on offense as well.

Root melee people, Cyclone is good.

Don't be afraid to use your other forms for their unique abilities.

jump a lot

V. Summary

Sexy druids doing awesome stuff, blah blah blah what to look forward to as we level and a retrospective of Wrath

VI. Appendix

Alla Posters who contributed

Horsemouth, someproteinguy, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 and 2.

Web Sources

Elitistjerks.com, wowthinktank.blogspot.com, graymatterwow.blogspot.com //use names and links for graylo and kalon, mention astralyin and RAWR, maybe tossk but hvent checked him out lately

Shout outs

Say, 'Herro' then accuse people of being hippies and or collaborators with The Man

VII. Extra Page

Circles

OLD FORUM STICKIE IS HERE